The Red Sox’s Good Luck Charm: Celtic Punk

Although it may seem that all we nourish ourselves with is music and pop culture … well, no, that’s about right. But hey sometimes artists help us with the tunnel vision and bring the national pasttime into focus, like when the the Hold Steady sang “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” or when the Smithereens’ Pat Dinizio teamed up with Joan Jett and motherfucking Bob Uecker, and of course when we found out that Dylan knows baseball (he loves Cadillacs, too; bet he likes apple pie).

And it turns out music’s played a pretty big role in the Red Sox’ postseason run this year, thanks to Massachusetts band Dropkick Murphys. Dial it back to ’04, when Boston was looking to beat the Curse of the Bambino. During that series, the working-class Quincy, MA band and longtime Sox fans did a cover of “Tessie,” a Broadway tune from when the Sox won the series in 1918, hoping to somehow conjure the olden-day mojo. It worked, the Sox won it all, so dudes were called back to play at Fenway before a Red Sox game for the sixth time last Sunday. The Sox won each of the previous five times the Dropkick Murphys played and, obviously, they beat the Indians last Sunday, thrusting ‘em into the World Series yet again. The power of music. If you haven’t seen the Murphys’ performance last weekend — it’s pretty rousing. Off-key crowd participation after the jump.

Besides “Tessie” they also belted a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” Here’s some behind-the-scene and “Shipping” footage.

Via MTV:Since we’re on this entire sports kick, might as well mention these new punk rock bubblegum cards. According to the maker, “backs will have a fave song lyric instead of stats. Teams and stuff like that is purely dictated by what I found searching vs. head size…” We like the Neil Young, especially — though, yes, it’s a hockey thing. Check it…

Like we said, we don’t pretend to be experts, so we asked our friend Darren: What does he think the value of this particular card would be? And just how fucked are the Rockies?

I know that Neil Young card is old, but that crease across the middle is brutal. The lower right hand corner looks like someone thought the thing was a sticker. Plus, it’s hockey, which means you have to multiply whatever value you think it has by 0.

And the Rockies are not good until tomorrow night when they come back to life in the Rocky Mountain air. Red Sox in 6.

You heard it here first: Red Sox in 6. (You can let us know how likely that is.) Can’t wait to see Papelbon’s post-game victory jig! But hey, we’re not playing favorites: The Sox might have the Dropkick Murphys and Papelbon’s fancy feet, but they don’t have the “Joba Rules.” What?

Sox in 6 only because I want them to come back and close it out in Fenway, but realistically I think it’s O-V-A-H. I’ll give the Rockies game four.

It’s kind of strange that the Sox have suddenly made the Dropkicks a household name. I’m sure they don’t mind, but they’re kind of the “Red Sox Band” now. That is their identity to a lot of people and it’s a bit unfair.

Dude, can’t believe y’all didn’t take this rare discussion of sports (this is a music blog, and I get this article is ‘really’ about Dropkick Murphys) to mention how funny the whole Taco Bell “Steal A Base, Steal A Taco” promotion is.

I should’ve specified that I meant the Dropkicks are a household name in New England and not across the country; Evan expressed my point better than I did. You have to agree that someone who hadn’t heard of them before 2004 now thinks, “Ohhh yeah, that ‘Tessie’ band!” The Sox have absolutely increased their popularity over the last few years because of this.

So does winning another championship mean the Red Sox are no longer the trendy-ass, lovable losers? Shouldn’t they be labeled Evil Empire for having a payroll almost triple that of the Rockies? They are the Dave Matthews Band of baseball; the Rockies are The Fray — still not huge worldwide but came on strong in the past year or so.

I hate to be a pest, but the grammar in the headline of this post is just screaming to be fixed. “Sox’??” A word is ended with an apostrophe only if it is a plural possessive, ending in an “s.” Even if the team was the Red Socks, the headline would read Socks’s. The team name is a singular, proper noun. The letter “x” denotes neither plurality nor possession in English.

Actually, it’s GOOD that Pappelbon doesn’t have to play by something like “Joba Rules.” The Red Sox were cautious but not too strict with Pappelbon this year after last season, when his shoulder wore out. He did, after all get around 35 saves this year, becoming the FIRST Red Sox closer ever to save at least 35 games in two seasons (he did it last year too). With this team’s storied history, I know that’s hard to believe, but it’s true.

However, in these playoffs, he’s been let loose (in more ways than one) and at least twice now has pitched in two consecutive innings, something he wasn’t allowed to do much at all this year. And he’s been money all throughout these playoffs, just as he was during the regular season, where he was among the top two closers in the American League. I

I’ve been saying Sox win WS in five games, but the way things are rolling now, they may sweep ‘em and win it all tonight!!! I’m sticking with my prediction, but obviously as a Sox fan, I don’t care if it holds up, as long as they win, period.

Also, I am proud of my hometown boys the Dropkick Murphys – they used to practice down the street from me over ten years ago (yes, I’m from Quincy too). So it’s great that they are putting my hometown on the map and that Stereogum mentioned it! It’s a punk rock kind of town nowadays, too. So we’re reveling in their success on the big stage.

Genius pun jdubs, pure genius. If your not writing for Letterman or conan by the end of the week, its a crime against humanity. Changing sox to sux, i mean, seriously, thats the stuff of legends. Kudos to you my friend, KUDOS.

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